1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an individual selective call receiver, and more particularly to a reception message display control technique in an individual selective call receiver with a display function.
2. Description of the Related Art
An individual selective call receiver with a display unit, and a reception message received after a call number is displayed on the display unit of an LCD (liquid crystal display). Recently, a call number common to individual selective call receivers is registered, and a service using the common call number is widely spread to send data such as news and weather report for every time interval. Also, the number of common call numbers is increased to provide services of various categories data such as amusement data, economic data, and game results of various sports.
In such a reception message data, when the message data is long, e.g., the message data is over a plurality of screens of the display unit, a desired message portion truly necessary for a user is often located on the following page. For example, the message portion such the weather report and sports game results of a desired team are located in the last section of message data. In this manner, when the desired message portion is located in the last section, the user must scroll some screens.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of display screens of a reception message such as a national weather report in a conventional individual selective call receiver. FIG. 1A shows the first display screen or page of the reception message. A symbol 301 shows that the reception message continues the next page. FIG. 1B shows the last page of the reception message and a symbol 302 shows the end of the reception message. The symbol 301 is added on the side of the receiver in the display of the reception message and the symbol 302 is contained in the reception message. It should be noted that the symbol 302 is sometimes different from the symbol contained in the reception message. When the user wants a desired message portion, e.g., the weather report on OOSAKA, the display screen is scrolled to the next page.
In this way, in the conventional individual selective call receiver with a display function, the user must scroll the whole reception message such that a desired message portion is displayed. For this reason, it takes a long time to search the desired message portion.
Also, a quantity of information which can be displayed at once on the display unit is small in the conventional individual selective call receiver. The service in which a lot of economic data such as stock market data and exchange rate data are provided to the user is difficult in the conventional individual selective call receiver.
In conjunction with the above description, a message receiving displaying apparatus is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Showa 64-65694). In this reference, a received message is stored in a storage unit based on a level code accompanied by the message in order of higher priority, and the messages stored in the storage unit are collectively displayed on a display unit.
Also, a selective call receiver with a display function is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 2-60099). In this reference, the receiver is allocated with at least one common call number, and an individual call number. The receiver includes a memory area for the individual call number and a memory area for at least one common call number.
Also, a message pager is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 2-266620). In this reference, the pager has keys for setting a call code. A user can input a call code using the keys.
Also, a selective call receiver with a display function is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 3-198537). In this reference, specific marks are previously registered and functions corresponding to the specific marks are stored. When one of the marks is selected, a reception message is displayed based on one of the function corresponding to the selected mark.
Also, a selective call receiver is described in Japanese Patent No. 2632604. In this reference, a timer is reset to start time each time a message is received. The timer outputs a signal when a predetermined time passed. When a new message is received before the timer outputs the signal, all of messages received heretofore are temporarily stored in a memory. Then, in response to the signal from the timer, a notifying operation is started and the messages in the memory are continuously displayed.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an individual selective call receiver in which a desired message portion of a reception message can be displayed with a priority.
In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, an individual selective call receiver with a display function, include a display unit displaying a data, a storage unit storing a priority display specifying data and a processor. The processor searches the message for the priority display specifying data in response to a priority display start instruction. When the priority display specifying data is searched, the processor controls the display unit to display the message such that a priority message portion of the message is displayed at a head portion of a screen of the display unit, the priority message portion including the priority display specifying data.
The processor may control the display unit to display the message such that a remaining portion of the message other than the priority message portion is displayed behind the priority message portion. Also, the processor may control the display unit to display the message such that the priority message portion is over-written and displayed at the head portion of the screen of the display unit.
The individual selective call receiver may further include a message memory storing the messages. In this case, the processor controls the display unit to display the message as it is and stores the message in the message memory, when the priority display specifying data is not searched.
In the above, a display format of the priority message portion is preferably different from that of a remaining portion of the message other than the priority message portion.
Also, the priority message portion is displayed at a head position or behind a title of the message.
The processor may generate the priority display start instruction in response to the reception of the message, or in response to a read instruction for instructing to read one of the messages in the message memory. The priority display specifying data is established when the receiver is turned on.
When the priority display specifying data includes a start key code and an end key code, the processor searches the message for the start key code, searches the message for the end key code, when the start key code is searched in the message, and determines that the priority display specifying data is searched in the message, when the end key code is searched in the message.
In this case, the processor moves a remaining portion of the message behind the priority message portion to produce a priority message, when it is determined that the priority display specifying data is searched in the message, and stores the priority message in a message memory.
The processor determines the start key code and the end key code in response to operations of a plurality of operation elements when a message is displayed on the display unit.
In order to achieve another aspect of the present invention, a method of preliminarily displaying a priority message portion in individual selective call receiver with a display function, include:
searching a message for a priority display specifying data in response to a priority display start instruction, and
when the priority display specifying data is searched, displaying the message such that a priority message portion of the message is displayed at a head portion of a screen of the display unit, the priority message portion including the priority display specifying data.
In addition, the message may be displayed such that a remaining portion of the message other than the priority message portion is displayed behind the priority message portion.
Also, the message may be displayed such that the priority message portion is over-written and displayed at the head portion of the screen of the display unit.
Also, a display format of the priority message portion may be different from that of a remaining portion of the message other than the priority message portion. Also, the priority message portion is displayed at a head position or behind a title of the message.
The priority display start instruction may be generated in response to reception of the message, or in response to a read instruction for instructing to read one of the messages in the message memory.
When the priority display specifying data includes a start key code and an end key code, the method includes:
searching the message for the start key code;
when the start key code is searched in the message, searching the message for the end key code; and
when the end key code is searched in the message, determining that the priority display specifying data is searched in the message.
A remaining portion of the message may be moved behind the priority message portion to produce a priority message, when it is determined that the priority display specifying data is searched in the message.
In the method, the start key code and the end key code may be determined in response to operations of a plurality of operation elements when a message is displayed.